A Rediculous Assignment
by helpthehorriblelovethelonely
Summary: Voldemort is dead at the end of Harrys fifth year, but something seems off about the boy so Albus sends Severus Snape on an assignment. What does he have to do? only deage himself back to 16 and start his sixth year over again as a gryffindor to figure out whats going on with Harry. He accepts, but he doesnt expect his entire life to change along the way.


Severus Snape gaped at his mentor and his friend for a long time, "Do you understand what you are asking of me, Albus?" he asked after a pregnant pause took over the room. There was no way Dumbledore was really asking him to do this.

"I do not see where I could find myself lost at the concept," Albus Dumbledore looked back at him with a smile, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. Severus knew he was staring, staring in utter disbelief, this was it, Dumbledore was finally going crazy.

"Albus, you are asking me to de-age myself back to a 16 year old, come into Hogwarts as a "transfer student"" he made air quotes around the words, "have the stupid hat sort me into Gryffindor where I will be miserable, all so that I can do what exactly? Keep an eye on the Potter brat because you're worried about him?" his voice was raising as his disbelief soared, and it only increased when Albus' smile widened, the old man tugged on his beard thoughtfully.

"Yes Severus, it seems that Harry has been in quite a spot sense he defeated Voldemort in the spring. His friends informed me that sense the department of mysteries victory, he has closed himself off to the world. He has not responded to their letters all summer, which worries them tremendously. I would send you over to the Dursleys as you are to check on him, but I worry that that would do more harm than good. But you are my most trusted professor and friend, plus, you dislike the boy-" Dumbledore held up a hand when Severus went to speak, "this is a good thing, you will have no good bias towards him, so you will not look peculiar with sudden overfriendliness or worry. He will see you as another new student, and from there you can observe him as he naturally is." Dumbledore finished his speech.

Severus looked incredulous; the old man could not possibly think that this was a good idea! He looked up into the man's eyes and he groaned, of course he did. Severus sighed, and weighed his options. On one hand, he could refuse and have to deal with the students as a professor, or he could accept and have to deal with the students as another student. Then there was the Potter debacle. The boy was dumb, he thought, so it's not like he would be able to see through such an intricate plan. He would have to get close to the boy, which wouldn't be too hard considering Severus' acting abilities from all his years as a spy. And despite having to be 16 again and be placed in Gryffindor, he would still be paid for his time on the project. He leaned his head back, so it was leaning against the backboard of the seat under him.

"fine."

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

Severus had taken a potion that reversed his age back to 16 year's old, or well, 16 and a few months, considering the potion still took into effect your birthday, just not your birth year. Severus shook his head, it was weird how potions worked sometimes, he couldn't lie about that.

The potions professor, or well, the past form of the potion's professor, watched as Potter climbed onto the train without so much as even looking around at the crowd of people to try to see his friends. Severus raised an eyebrow, insolent AND rude, this was going to be a long few months. Severus sighed and fixed his student robes, unlike the ones he wore back in school, these ones simply had on a Hogwarts crest like the first years wore, his sorting to take place once they reached the castle. While 16, Severus would be going by Johnathan Smith, Severus was at least happy when he got to pick his own name.

Severus climbed onto the train shortly after Potter, making sure to pay attention to which compartment he stopped in. He waited a few moments, not wanting to seem suspicious showing up so soon after Potter had gotten on. Finally, he put on his best lost and confused face, which was quite easy with his teenage face, and he opened the door to Potter's compartment.

"Uhm, excuse me?" he asked, trying not to cringe at his voice. Severus noticed Potter's head shot up to look at him, and the boys image flickered slightly. Severus made a mental note of that, somewhere in the back of his mind. Potter simply raised an eyebrow at him, Severus wanted to scream. This really was going to be a long few months. "I uh, my names Johnathan, or well, just John. I'm a transfer student, someone tried to get me to sit with the first years, but I felt a little out of place. Do you mind if I sit in here with you?" he played the lost student card perfectly. Harry looked at him with surprise and distrust in his eyes, but after a moment of staring at Severus, or well- John, he waved his hand to show that it was okay for the other boy to join him. Severus noticed that Potter seemed to tense once he entered the room, but the boy seemed to ignore his existence. He was curled up in his seat, his head resting against the window.

"Uh, what's your name?" Severus asked, Harry's head shot up to him with disbelief running through his eyes. 'probably not used to someone not knowing who ickle Harry Potter is,' Severus thought bitterly. Harry finally responded after a moment, his shoulders slumping "Harry," he said.

Severus was waiting for the 'Potter,' to follow the first name, but it never came, instead the Gryffindor just laid his head back on the window, staring out at the bricks of the station. Severus was taken aback by this for some reason, 'someone just asked Harry Potter who he is, and he does not immediately tell him he is the boy wonder? Wouldn't he want the new student to know exactly who he was so they could faun over him?' Severus' thoughts turned bitter after that, somehow even in silence, he found Potter annoying. He sighed and rubbed his temples, bending over with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands as he massaged the pressure points.

"Bending over like that will make it worse," Severus jumped at the unexpected voice, his head shot up to Harry who seemed to not even be paying attention to him, he wondered if the boy could even see that far in his peripheral vision.

"Excuse me?" he asked, somehow the malice stayed out of his voice as he was genuinely filled with surprise at Potters' statement.

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

"leaning forward like that, it will make the headache worse. Your best bet is to lie down, or at least get your head in a position where you aren't putting strain on your neck." Harry said, his voice monotone. He didn't feel like looking over at the new kid right now, he was battling his own headache and he knew if he moved his head too much more than it will turn into a full on migraine, and he didn't want to deal with that right now- especially not when Ron and Hermione came back from their prefect duties.

Harry had been thrown out of his thoughts when the kid, looking no taller or heavier than Harry himself, opened the door to the compartment. Harry had to be quick to pull his glamour's up before the kid saw him, it wouldn't be good to scare the kid off with how busted up he looked. He heard the new student say he was a transfer, and that his name was John. Harry stored the information in his head, he never forgot a name or a face. When John had asked who he was, Harry was taken off guard. He could tell from the boy's accent that he was from England, so Harry thought he would have known about the war and about everything Harry had done for it. The be speckled teen had to hide a snort, how much he was forced to do for it, more like.

Harry took the opportunity and just told John his first name, and when the other didn't pry, he was thankful. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the other bend over with his head in his hands, rubbing his temples. Harry knew the position well, and he also knew that it wouldn't do any good, and he told the boy as such. He watched as John gave him a reproachful look from across the small gap between them.

"If you need a potion," Harry offered, "my trunk is under your chair, there's a first aid kit in there that should have a headache potion or two left in it, you are free to have one. If you need any of the others that are still in there, too, feel free to use them as well- I'm going to be making new batches of everything once I get back to the dorm, as it is. Sorry there isn't much left, they usually don't last the entire summer." His voice remained emotionless, and he refused to move as he spoke. He closed his eyes and relished at the cool glass that touched his hot skin.

Severus couldn't believe what he was hearing, not only had Potter just given full permission to a practical stranger to go through his trunk, but he had offered the last of his potions to him because he thought Severus could benefit from them, to say he was shocked was an understatement. But Severus really did have a nasty headache coming on, and even if Potter brewed the potions and they barely worked, something was better than nothing. He leaned down and pulled the trunk out from where it had been under the chair

"Thank you," he remembered to say before opening the boy's trunk. It was what was inside, or the lack of what was inside, that shocked him the most. The trunk contained a red box with a white plus on it, indicating to Severus that it was the first aid kit, but when he looked at the other things inside, there was almost nothing. Usually students' trunks were full of clothes and decorations and things from home, but all Potter had in his trunk was a few sets of his Hogwarts robes and uniforms, a pair of jeans, and a small folded pile of worn out, ratty hand me downs. Severus couldn't help but scrunch his eyebrows. Besides clothes, the only other things he saw inside the trunk were a map, a shard of a mirror, some basic toiletries, what looked to be a photo album, and a cloak with a weird shiny silver sheen to it.

"Not much to look at, I know," Severus had just grabbed the first aid kid when Harry spoke, it made him jump and the trunk's lid closed down on his fingers. "fuck!" Severus couldn't help but curse, pulling his finger out of the jaws of the glorified suitcase.

Harry watched from the corner of his eye as John pulled the trunk out from under the seat and open it. It was quiet for a long moment; Harry knew that John was staring at his minimal number of things. He couldn't help but wince when he heard the trunk slam down on the other kids' fingers, but he said nothing more.

"Why do you have only a few things? Is the rest of your stuff already at Hogwarts?" the new student asked, he scrunched his face up a bit "let's go with that." He said flatly, successfully ending the conversation.

Severus couldn't help the uneasy feeling that started to creep its way into his mind, something wasn't right here, but he couldn't quite tell what yet. He opened the first aid kit and found only a few vials still filled with the potions they had originally contained. Harry had been right when he said there should be a headache potion left, though. Picking it up Severus looked for any impurities in it, but he found none, odd- Potter was dismal at potions. He unstopped the bottle and smelt it, finding it to smell exactly as it should, this confused him, maybe Granger had done the brewing for him? or perhaps he was lying and he had bought them, or stolen them from the hospital wing? Severus felt his headache gnawing at the back of his head, so he didn't really care where the perfectly made potion had come from. He took it and the results were practically instantaneous. He felt the tension in his body leaving.

"Woah, that was amazing, you said you made these?" he asked, and he received a small nod from Potter but not without a clear look of pain on his face. "You must be really good at potions then," Severus found himself saying, just to see what Potter would respond with.

Deciding that staying still was the best course of actions right now, he instead decided to use his words. "well, outside of class I am pretty good at them, but in class I usually don't do as well. For a variety of reasons,"

"What would those be?" Harry heard John ask, he could see the confused curiosity on his face. "well, there's a few things. First, I usually dumb myself down in classes, it's easier to pretend like you don't understand and let somebody else have all the spotlight than to do well and have people gawk at you," Harry couldn't help the sneer that came over his face.

Severus was utterly shocked when he learned that Potter, as the boy said it, dumbed himself down. Why on earth would he do that? Severus noticed the sneer on Harry's face at the mention of receiving attention, and this shocked the de-aged professor even more. A Potter not wanting attention? Impossible!

"Second," Harry continued, not waiting for Severus to reply, "I'm in Gryffindor, and usually Gryffindor potions is double blocked with Slytherin potions as well. Actually, most of the classes are double blocked with Slytherin, probably Dumbledore-" he cut himself off "sorry, our headmaster, professor Dumbledore, probably thinks that by pairing the Slytherins and Gryffindor's together in most of their classes, that it will somehow breed house unity. It doesn't usually work that way. I am…" Harry paused and pursed his lips "not many people at school actually like me, and the Slytherins are no exception, a few of the more volatile snakes will levitate random ingredients into my cauldron while I'm working- I've tried putting up shield charms around my work station, but then they just toss them in and they make it through the shield. I've just learned to live with it,"

Severus felt himself sneering on the inside, there was no way Potter was telling the truth, although- why would the boy make up such intricate lies to a stranger who he might not ever speak to again? Severus couldn't help the look of surprise that graced his face.

Harry snorted, "the third reason, and probably the biggest, is that the potions professor hates me, he always has. Even the first day of classes, the man hadn't even met me yet, and he hated me. He was saying something, I'll never forget 'I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper on death'" the look on his face was so genuine, with traces of excitement to learn that one would usually find in a first year. Severus had to force himself not to flinch.

"and I was so… I guess you could say awestruck? I was writing down everything he was saying, I wanted to learn so bad, I was so excited." Suddenly, Harry's face fell, and the boy just looked sad. "He thought I wasn't paying attention," his voice was quiet, it held his sadness "he asked me some question about powdered asphodel and an infusion of wormwood. I didn't know, how was I supposed to know? I was 11 years old, raised by muggles, who didn't even know they were a wizard until a half giant burst through the door of some shack on an island!" his voice was raising, and Severus could feel Harry's magic starting to crackle around them, he found himself picking his feet up off of the ground so that they were on the seat, thinking that would somehow help him against the sudden powerful magic. "So, I didn't know, and this man-" Harry finally took a moment to take a breath, and Severus could feel the magic around them dissipating. "Professor Snape snapped at me, he insisted I was just like my father, insisted that I was an idiot and would never amount to anything, and y'know what? Maybe he was right." Harry finally finished his tirade, his voice faltering on the last few words.

Severus stared at his student with wide eyes, he could feel his mouth drying and a pit forming in the bottom of his stomach as he listened to Harry. He had sounded so… so broken, so dismayed. Had the boy really been taking notes that first day? Did he really not know he was a wizard until he was 11? Severus thought back on the things he had heard every now and then from listening in on wayward professors discuss Potter. He vaguely remembered hearing Hagrid talk to Minerva about how Harry's relatives had taken off with the boy to a shack on an island in the middle of nowhere, trying to get away from all the Hogwarts letters that were bombarding their mail. He frowned deeply. The last words Harry had said finally processed in Severus' mind, did Potter _truly _believe that he was an idiot, that he wouldn't amount to anything? Severus winced as he realized he reminded Potter of that any chance he had. He opened his mouth to say something, but Harry cut him off.

Harry saw the new kid wince after he ranted to him. He was quick to shake his hand at him, finally looking over at John "No, no! it's not like that, Professor Snape is a good man, he really is he just…" Harry took a deep breath, and Severus could finally see the exhaustion on the boys face. "he is a good man; he just doesn't like me. My father treated him like shit when they were in school, humiliated him and taunted him and harassed him, and I happen to look just like my father," Harry leaned his head back to stare up at the compartment ceiling, muttering something under his breath about his mothers eyes. "and not to mention, I've been a menace my entire career at Hogwarts. Even if I hadn't known at the time what exactly I did wrong, he was just hating me for all the things I was going to do. Yeah, I would hate me too."

Severus couldn't believe what he was hearing, Potter thought that he, evil greasy bat of the dungeons, was a good man? There was no way Potter actually believed that. But again, why would he bother lying to some nondescript transfer student. He listened to Potter say he would hate himself too, and then Severus thought he heard the boy whisper "I already do," to himself, but this shook Severus more than anything else, so he decided to chalk it up as a sound from the train rolling down the tracks.

Suddenly, the compartment door burst open, and Severus was surprised to see the boy jump and look up in fear at the loud noise. In the doorway was Granger and Weasley, they were holding hands as they stepped into the compartment. Finally, their eyes landed on Harry, completely ignoring Severus sitting right there. "Harry!" they shouted in unison, letting go of each other and rushing over to their friend. The couple spoke at the same time, Hermione yanked Harry up out of his seat and hugged him as if he was fragile. Severus' unease began to grow.

"hullo, Hermione," Harry said quietly, wrapping his arms around her, hugging her back weakly. Once she let go Ron was next to hug the brunette. Harry couldn't help the small smile that crossed his face when Ron towered over him, enveloping him like Harry was a child. "Harry we've been so worried!" Hermione said once Ron pulled away, Harry sat back down and Hermione placed her hands on either side of his cheeks, making him look her in the eyes.

Hermione had been shocked to see her friend's skin clear when she walked in. It had taken them a couple of years, but the summer before their fourth year, when they were all camping for the wizarding world cup, Harry had opened up to them about the abuse from his family. It had started when Hermione walked in on Harry changing, and she saw the scars and welts on his back, she had gasped and asked what had happened. Harry looked frantic, so scared, like he was a child confronted by the monster in their closet. He had started crying, and Hermione had pulled him into a comforting hug and just held him for a while. That was how Ron had found them, Harry still sobbing in Hemione's arms. The redhead felt instant worry for his best mate, practically his brother. He had rushed over and sat on the other side of the small teen, just holding him. they stayed like that for a while until Harry finally started to speak, "When I was a baby, I was dropped off at my aunt and uncles," he had started, and it took him a long time to make his way through the story of his childhood. The friends had come out of the situation closer than before, but Hermione and Ron both wished their bonding had been because of something else. After that night, whenever Ron, Hermione, and Harry were alone together at the start of term, Harry would let his glamour's down to rest his magic, and Ron and Hermione would just be there for him, because they knew that was what he needed.

Hermione breaks out of her memories as she remembers she's supposed to be checking over her friend. She cupped Harry's cheeks and made him look at her, and she could see the pain in his eyes, it's not that the bruises weren't there, they were just hidden, she should have known. She frowns "Harry why are you hid-" she starts to ask, but she sees Harrys eyes flick to something behind her, and suddenly Ron elbows her in her side. "ouch! Ronald!" she admonished, but she turned to see what the two were looking at. Across from the trio was a student Hermione had never seen before, although something about him made her think that she knew him, somehow. The boy was wearing Hogwarts robes without a house crest on them, but it was obvious he wasn't a first year. A transfer maybe?

"Oh! I'm so sorry, that was rude of me! I hadn't even noticed you were here. I apologize!" she said quickly, smiling at the boy who was watching the three of them closely. "My name is Hermione, and this is Ron," she said nudging the redhead. Ron gave him a crooked smile and waved, "and it seems you've met Harry, well I guess everything is in order," she said, her voice picking up as her anxiety started to rise. She needed to make sure Harry was okay! But she couldn't do that with this guy sitting in their compartment! She ground her teeth audibly, only calming when Harry patted her on her arm.

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said quietly, "we can… talk… later, alright? I'll have to tell you about the things me and my family did this summer, it was great!" he lied easily, a fake smile on his face. He knew that Ron and Hermione would understand, and they did. They sat on either side of him, Ron as a protecting source on his one side, and Hermione as a soothing one on his other. Harry laid his head on Hermione's shoulder and she stroked his hair absentmindedly while Ron rubbed Harry's back.

Severus watched the trio's interactions carefully, he took advantage of the fact that Granger and Weasley had yet to notice him, it made sure to Severus that their reactions were honest. They had run over to him, they certainly had been worried about their friend, Dumbledore had been right about that. He watched as the two hugged him, and how gingerly they had hugged him, Hermione making sure to hug him around his neck, and Ron making sure to keep his arms around the bottom of Harry's torso. Severus had seen the friends hug before, and he knew that this wasn't their normal hug, no, something was wrong.

He then watched as Hermione lifted the boy's face to look her in the eyes, her eyes were intense and looking for something, Severus felt slightly nauseated as he thought she might start kissing him. But instead she frowned and began to ask to Harry, why he was… was what? Severus played the cut off word his mind and the only thing he could think the word would have been was 'hide', or 'hiding'. Hiding? What was Potter hiding? He thought, he desperately wanted an answer, but he noticed Harry flick his eyes towards him, and then Severus saw Ron elbow the girl. She turned to finally look at Severus and her eyes widened, then narrowed, but then they returned to normal and she introduced herself and the redhead.

Severus noticed her voice get higher as she spoke, and he knew from being her professor for so long that she was becoming anxious, why was she anxious about someone different being in their compartment? Was she THAT antisocial? Severus cringed at the noise that the girls grinding teeth made. For Christ's sakes weren't her parent's dentists?

Severus heard what Harry had said to his friends, that they would talk later, he thought he only heard the hesitation in the word choice because of being a spy, or maybe simply because he had taught Potter for so long. When the boy mentioned his summer being great, Severus relaxed slightly. But the way Harry's friends reacted to the information had him on high alert. They sat on either side of Harry, Harry leaned down to lay his head on the girl's shoulder, and she played with his hair while Ron stroked his back. Severus at first thought this was some weird triad love triangle romance thing going on, but he soon began to think that that wasn't the case. Not with the way Weasley and Granger were sending concerned looks over Harry's head.

Severus stayed quiet for a long time, he had pulled out a book form his rucksack and started reading, he was reading an advanced potions book, something that a sixth year probably wouldn't be reading, but Severus refused to be completely and utterly miserable during his time in the Gryffindor tower, so he kept to the advanced books. He looked up when he heard Hermione clear her throat.

"I'm sorry," she had said, giving him a small smile "I don't believe I asked your name, again, quite rude of me." Severus looked over at the group and noticed that Harry was asleep on Hemione's shoulder, his body looking almost broken against hers. Ron hadn't moved, instead he was finishing up the last bits of his summer schoolwork.

"Johnathan," Severus finally answered when he looked back at her. "Johnathan Smith, but you can call me John, or smith if you would like." She nodded and thought momentarily, "alright smith, What are you reading?" she asked curiously, Severus rolled his eyes, wondering how he knew she would ask that question. He showed her the cover ,

"Oh! A potions book. Harry has that one- I think," she hummed. Severus gave her a look, he highly doubted Potter owned a copy of this text, he highly doubted the Potter spawn owned a copy of _any_ book.

The look he gave her obviously wasn't the right one, because her eyes narrowed, and her face read fury "What? You don't think Harry could read something as advanced as that? What because he's the stupid hero? Or is it because he's all brawn and no brain?" her voice was a hiss, and Severus felt the compartment around them heat up, and he swallowed. First Potter's magic, now Grangers, who knew the teenagers were so powerful? It looked like Granger is about to spit out more insults when Ron places a hand on her shoulder "Hermione," he says gently. Severus is surprised by the way Weasley spoke to the girl; he had thought Weasley to be some emotionless muscleman of the group.

"Hermione, now is not the time to hex the new kid. Harry himself said that book is difficult, I mean, half the pages are in Latin for merlin's sake. And we're sixth years, were barely supposed to know how to read, let alone read advanced potion theory, in Latin, no less." His voice was calm and never wavered, obviously being the voice of reason. Severus would have guessed it was the opposite, with Weasley acting on emotions and Granger being the one to settle him down.

Hermione looked at John sheepishly, she rubbed the back of her neck "I'm sorry Smith, I shouldn't have gone off like that. You just look…" she waved her hand in his direction, she looked over at Ron for help finding her words.

"look so much like Snape?" Ron finished for her, having already gone back to his assignments.

"Yes! You just did that same thing he always did before he would berate Harry and I just," she pinched the bridge of her nose "how he respects that man so much is beyond me, especially after all he's done to him." she muttered under her breath.

Outside, Severus looked calm, but on the inside, he was freaking out. He thought they had recognized him, had figured him out, he would have guessed if it were to be a student to figure him out, it was going to be Hermione Granger. But then, she just kept talking, and Severus felt his brain's panic switch be flipped back to normal. He let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding; he took a moment to think carefully about the words he was going to say.

"Harry was telling me about him, your potions professor, right?" he asked, feigning a look of contemplation. He saw Hermione nod, so he continued. "He told me about his first day of class. Was it really as bad as he said it was?"

This time it was Ron's turn to glare at him, Severus wondered what he had said wrong now, "I don't know what you've heard about Harry, but he is no liar. And was it as bad as he said? Smith he probably told you the better story." Severus then realized what Ron was so mad about, Severus had called Harry a liar.

"I didn't intend-" he started to say but Ron cut him off. "Let me tell you the short and sweet of it mate," the redhead talks as if Severus had never spoken. 'so, they are all rude,' Severus thought.

"Harry walks in to our first day of potions class, he's so excited, literally have only seen this kid that excited like- maybe 3 other times. Anyway- Snape walks in, billowing bat like robes and all, and he takes one look at Harry and instantly despises the kid. Hell, probably hated him before that." Ron's eyes now held a similar shade of fury that Hemione's had held earlier.

"Anyway, Snape walks in and starts talking about how potions can do all these amazing things- Harry's takin' notes, writing down everything the dungeon bat was saying, and the asshole goes and calls Harry some sort of spoiled celebrity. He asks some bogus question about bogus potions ingredients no first year, even pure blood raised, would know, except you Hermione- but you're special," he gave the girl a cheeky grin despite his anger. "And then when Harry obviously couldn't come up with an answer, and Snape goes and calls him an idiot, that he was a good for nothing lazy excuse of a person just like his father- and that he would never amount to anything in life. We were 11! This man was 31 years old, and he's butthurt over the fact that Harrys father bullied him 20 years ago, like, mate get a life! These are literal children! You are an adult who should have the small amount of emotional stability and composure needed to handle looking at a kid who looks like the guy who teased you in high school." Ron ranted.

Severus felt his eye twitch, listening to them talk about him like that. He had half a mind to get his wand and hex them to hell and back, they had no idea what they were talking about, had no idea what he had to go through at the hands of Potter sr. They had no idea what pressures were placed on him as a spy to act the part of a loyal death eater, knowing Voldemort's head was on the back of one of the professors heads the entire schoolyear and not being able to do anything about it. He had to act his part- if he didn't, he would have been dead, if he-

Severus' musings were cut short by Ron sighing, "we know now, obviously, that Snape had to be the way he was because of the positions he was in as a spy for Dumbledore, having to seem a "true" follower of the dark lord in order for the light to get the information they needed. But, couldn't he have been a little less cruel? I mean that night I found him sobbing in his bed, all he wanted was to come to Hogwarts and be a normal student for once but there he was, hero of the stupid fucking wizarding world and somehow already number 1 on a professors shit list." Ron ended with a shake of his head.

Severus sat there in silence for a while after Ron had finished his speech. The redhead was right, even though he had to play the part of the death eater who hated their lord's killer, he didn't have to be so cruel, to any of his students, but especially to Potter.

They rode the rest of the way to Hogsmeade in silence. Ron went back to finishing his homework, and Hermione pulled out a large tome on arithmancy, she levitated it in front of her so as not to disturb the still sleeping young man on her shoulder, she moved so she could pet his hair with her hand while she read, knowing it would relax Harry, even in his sleep. As they neared Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione gently woke Harry, the man looked around the compartment blearily, not being able to see anything as Ron had taken his glasses off for him when he fell asleep. Hermione got up to go change into her school robes as Ron pulled Harry's glasses out of his pocket and handed them to his friend. Harry smiled as the glasses were slipped onto his face, he felt rested for the first time in many months. Hermione came back dressed in her Gryffindor robes, and she shook her head at the boys in front of her. Then she looked over at Smith who was just kind of awkwardly staring at the floor.

"Come on Smith," she called, noticing the surprised look she received when the other teen looked up "if we don't hurry, we'll be stuck in a carriage full of second years." She said, pulling the other teen up by the sleeves of his robe. She noticed that the new guy didn't hesitate, and she wondered what house he would be put it. They found an empty carriage and quickly took their seats, just when Severus thought it would just be the four of them, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood stepped up into the carriage, and the doors shut as the vehicle reached its max capacity of students.

"Hello, Harry," the two girls chorused, they gave him a smile. Harry smiled back weakly

"Hullo, good break?" he asked, chuckling when Ginny draped herself dramatically over Harry's lap, careful not to upset any injuries he might have.

"Oh, how could I enjoy my break without my sweet Harrykins there with me?" she said, her voice full of dramatics. Harry couldn't help the bubbling laugh that escaped him, Ginny always knew how to make him laugh.

Severus watched the interaction closely, although he saw her drape over his lap and Severus was wondering if this girl was really going to kiss him this time. She didn't, and Severus thanked the universe for small favors. He couldn't help the small smile when he heard Harry laugh.

"Oh, my love! I felt like my heart would explode with you so far! I contemplated crossing treacherous oceans, climbing the tallest mountains, and fighting all the demons down in hell just to get to you!" Ginny leaned over the side of Harry's lap and pretended to swoon. Everybody in the carriage was laughing now, including Severus.

Harry grinned and decided to play along, wrapping his arms around her waist "My dear! I felt lost without you in my arms! How dare I survive without your love to fuel me! Mine honor, mine heart! Our families are destined to always despise each other, our love cannot be! And yet, A rose by any other name would smell as sweet!" he bemoaned, lifting his hand as if he was holding a rose to the light.

'Did he just quote Shakespeare?' Severus thought to himself as he watched the show, surprised Potter would even know of Shakespeare, let alone recite part of the play.

"My love, I must tell you something!" Ginny said, acting as if she was about to give the worst news Harry had ever heard,

"Tell me, sweet Ginerva, what do you have to say that leaves you so sad?" Harry reached up to place the back of his hand on her cheek gently.

Ginny took a deep breath, and Severus was impressed to see actual tears streaming down her face. Even he wasn't that good of an actor. "my heart, I must tell you…" she paused for dramatic affect "that I am Hella gay!"

Severus was thoroughly confused, especially because all the others in the compartment except for him were watching the scene with hands over their mouths, knowing the next part of the performance and trying not to laugh already.

Harry cupped both of her cheeks, "my rose, my fire!" he forced out a shaky voice "with this secret, I must tell my own," he let go of her face and turned as if he was too pained to look at her. He then turned back to her "I thought I was the only one!" he said, his voice still in the old dramatic love story voice, you know the one.

Everyone in the carriage burst out laughing, except for Severus who seemed to be choking on air. Ron and Hermione looked over at him and started laughing harder at his expression. Severus scowled at them.

Harry pushed Ginny off of his lap and she landed in Luna's, which Ginny was more than happy to stay in. "Come on now, give the new kid a break," Luna found herself saying, her voice as dreamy as ever, she wrapped her arms around Ginny's waist. "He doesn't know what's going on, poor lamb is probably scared out of his wits!" she teased, looking over at Severus.

Severus could have sworn he saw knowing in her eyes, but it was gone before he had the chance to think on it. Severus glanced over at Harry and found that he had retreated back into his shell after the theatrics were over. Severus frowned a little at the sudden change, but before anybody could say anything else, the carriage stopped and opened its doors to let them out. The girls were the first out, followed by Ron and then Severus and then Harry. Harry stopped to pet the thestrals for a moment, before catching up with the group. When they got to the great hall, Ginny, Luna, Ron, and Hermione all walked in, the respective couples holding hands. Harry stopped Smith with a hand on his shoulder "This is where were going to have to leave you, Smith. You have to wait here until you're sorted with the first years. If you're worried about the house the hat will pick, don't worry, he takes suggestions," Harry gave him a weak smile and then patted the new student on the shoulder, before heading into the great hall himself.

Severus' mind was spinning at all the things that had happened in just a few hours. He had never seen Potter in any of the moods he had just seen him in, and he was so confused. Obviously, the boy kept up masks, deciding who to show which one to and at which time. Severus wondered which mask the boy would eventually keep permanently on around him.

He stood back and waited with the first years, when his new name was finally called, he walked up to the stool and sat down, McGonagall placing the hat on his head.

"_well well well, Severus," the hat said into his mind, "its been such a long time sense I last got to take a peak around your head, a lot has changed, I see" Severus couldn't help but roll his eyes playfully, he smiled a little at the banter "hello, penumbra, It has been a while. Although I can't say that enough has changed to warrant my resort. If I was still a student, you would still sort me into Slytherin, yes?" he asked, although he hated the bit of uncertainty in his thoughts. The hat laughed gently "there is only one person I have met that I have been not sure if I made the right decision or not, but that is a topic for another day," _

_Severus rolled his eyes again "well, get on with it, you know the deal, the house of the lions for me, my good sir," _was the last thought Severus said to the hat before "GRYFFINDOR" bellowed throughout the entire great hall. He took the hat off of his head and stood, he must have been talking to the hat longer than he thought, because the hall as silent for a moment, but once they processed his sorting there were several cheers throughout the great hall. Severus just shook his head and found his way over to the Gryffindor table, he was surprised when he saw Harry waving to get his attention, beckoning him over to him and his group of friends.

Severus went and sat next to the boy wonder, finding the rest of the 6th year Gryffindor boys to be sitting somewhere within conversation distance, as well as Hermione and Ginny sitting directly across from Harry and now Severus. "The hat took his time, didn't he? I was beginning to think he would never make a decision!" Severus looked over to see who had spoken to him, it was Ron. "Almost tied with Harry for the record of longest time it took the hat to make a decision ever," Ron nudged his friend, Harry couldn't help but laugh. Severus frowned, he hadn't remembered Potters sorting being exceptionally long, but then again, he was a little focused on other things.

"How long was yours?" he found himself asking.

Harry tried to shrug it off, but Seamus cut in from his place to the left of Severus "Only 7 minutes and 34 seconds!" he said, as if he was telling the new kid about how fast he had sprinted a mile, or something. Severus' eyes widened, there was no way it was that long, he would have remembered it if it was!

Harry blushed "It's not that big of a deal!" he tried to counter, but Ron just put his arm around his friends shoulders "Harry, mate, the second longest I've ever seen or heard of was old Smith here with a 5 minute 12 second turnaround, and Hermione comes in third at an even 5 minutes. Hate to break it to you mate, you've always been special."

Harry put his face in his hands, he groaned. "why did it take you so long to be sorted?" Severus asked, genuinely curious. He heard Dumbledore give his welcome speech and mention something about how professor Slughorn would be the potions professor this term while Severus himself was apparently taking a break off from the teaching position. Severus rolled his eyes, Slughorn was useless, but at least HE didn't have to teach the brats this year. The food appeared on the table only a second later.

"Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin," Seamus responded, pointing his butter knife covered in butter in Harry's direction "Poor bloke had only ever met Malfoy and Ron at that point, blonde prat was spoutin' off prejudices while in the robes shop, right Harry?" Seamus looked down at his friend to confirm. Harry rolled his eyes but nodded, a small smile on his face. "had a right shouting match with him,"

Harry hummed, smirking at the conversation he had had with the hat. "Kept telling me I was meant for Slytherin, that everything in my head said I should be a Slytherin. But I kept just begging to be anywhere BUT Slytherin, I even asked him to put me in Hufflepuff, but he turned that suggestion down quick," he chuckled.

Severus frowned "do you ever regret defying the hat?" he asked. He watched as Harry thought over the question for a moment,

"I mean, yeah, there have been times where these right prats-" he pointed to all of his friends "were too much to handle, but I made it through. And plus, just because I'm not officially a Slytherin, doesn't mean I can't keep the Slytherin parts of my personality. Also, remember our potions professor I was telling you about? The one who hates me? Yeah, well he's the head of Slytherin house. He would have killed me before I even stepped foot into the common rooms after the opening feast," Harry had a smile on his face, although, it was a bit forced Severus noticed. The boy's eyes went from his peers to the head table, and Severus wondered curiously what he was looking at,

Severus turned towards Hermione when she reached across the table to place her hand on Harrys "Harry, he's fine. Voldemort's dead, he isn't a spy anymore, everything is okay. You just heard the headmaster say that he is on sabbatical, stop worrying," she chastised gently. Severus' eyes furrowed, was Harry looking for him?

Severus shook his head and finally piled food on his plate, the welcoming feast had always been Severus' favorite time during his student years. He looked up at Harry and noticed that he wasn't moving to put any food on the plate that appeared in front of him. He furrowed his eyebrows and he was about to ask if he was going to eat, but just as he opens his mouth, he feels a sharp kick to his shin. He hisses and looks up at the girl in front of him who just decided his bone was a soccer ball. When he looked over, he saw Ginny staring at him with a fire in her eyes, she flicks her eyes to Harrys plate, and then back to Severus' eyes before she shakes her head. Severus got the hint that if he said anything about it, she would maim him, so he just shut his mouth.

The rest of the feast went by pleasantly, and when Dumbledore dismissed them Severus stood and walked next to rest of the 6th years up to the Gryffindor common rooms. When he stepped inside the fat lady's portrait, he instantly relaxed at the warmth from the fireplace crackling, and the cozy environment. He felt somebody grab his upper arm gently, and he looked up to see Harry smiling at him, steering him towards the stairs to get up to their rooms.

"The boys' stairs are on the right, and the girl's stairs are on the left. Although, you'll be able to tell which stairs are the right ones because if a guy were to try to go up the steps to the girl's dormitory, the stairs turn into a slide." He explained, before Seamus piped up from behind them,

"Unless of course, you're Harry!" he said, Severus almost missed the quick turnaround that lead to Harry smacking Seamus on the chest. Severus found himself getting irritated,

"what makes you so special?" he asked Harry, only noticing the snide tone when it was too late. He watched as Harry turned to him with a blank face. He let go of Severus' arm and the air in the room changed a bit. "I'm gay, Smith." Harrys voice was clipped, and his eyes were hard, not letting any emotion show through the mask he had put on. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Severus' head was spinning again, suddenly the dramatics in the carriage made much more sense. He found himself shaking his head numbly "No, no not a problem. I'm sorry for my tone, I didn't mean for it to come out so… like that," he apologized, and the energy in the room went back to its normal pressure. Harry gave him a small smile and nodded towards the stairs up to the boys' dorm "Good. Now come on, I want to see how they rearranged the room to fit the extra bed." Severus just nodded and followed the other teen up the stairs.

Once they made it to the 6th year room, Severus looked around in interest. The dorms were set up much different in Gryffindor than in Slytherin. In Slytherin, there was usually 2 or 3 medium sized dorm rooms for each year, usually 2 or 3 people sharing the room, but in Gryffindor, there was just the one massive room. He didn't entirely mind, although it was going to be awkward having to be in his 16-year-old body again around so many people. Harry looked around the room as well and nodded appreciatively, he looked at the trunks at the end of the beds to see whose bed was who's. "seems like you're between Dean and I, John," Harry pointed to the bed that had a trunk at the end of the bed that Harry had never seen before. The beds were arranged in a circular pattern, the ends of the beds basically forming a circle at the center of the room, each person's desk to the left of the head of the bed. Harry sat down tenderly on the bed with his trunk at the end of it, and he just took a moment to take in the smells and the sounds and the feeling of being back in the Gryffindor common rooms

The boys who had been in these dorms sense they were 11 let Harry be, they knew how he always came back to Hogwarts, and they tried to give him as much peace as possible the first couple of days back. Severus sat down on his own bed and reveled at how soft the blankets were, he was about to lay down when the door to the room slammed open, making him jump into a standing position, a determined looking Hermione stood in the threshold with her wand in one hand and a healers kit in the other. Harry opened his eyes and looked at Hermione, she gave him a questioning look and he nodded his head slightly.

Severus was curious what was going on when he felt Neville, Seamus, and Dean grab him and pull him to the other side of the room. He was about to shout when they shushed him. "Listen Smith," Neville started, looking the boy up and down "We don't quite trust you yet, but the hat put you here for a reason, right?"

Severus swallowed and nodded, wondering what the fuck was going on.

"Listen mate what you're about to see is going to make you feel some sort of way, and you need to prepare yourself," Dean was the one who spoke this time, Severus just felt even more confused.

"Harry's got a shitty life," Seamus started, and this took Severus off guard, how bluntly he said it. "We've got some rules in this house that you wont break. And if you do, you will find yourself on the bottom of the black lake. Got it?" he finished; his voice almost sweet. Severus just looked between the three boys; he was so bloody lost. "What… what are the rules?" he manages to ask without stammering too much.

"Rule 1," it's Neville who speaks again "you don't speak to anybody about what you see happen in this room,"

"Rule 2," Dean again "you will notice there are no closets or small spaces in here- if there becomes one, we will know where to find you,"

"Rule 3," Neville, "you do not speak to Harry about his eating habits. Only Ron and Hermione can do that."

"Rule 4," Seamus "you do not pry for information about personal things with Harry. If he wants you to know, he will tell you,"

"And lastly, rule 5," Dean looks him in the eyes and Severus decided that everything he has ever known about Gryffindor's is a lie and he will never underestimate them again. "you don't hurt Harry; he has been hurt enough. If we find out you hurt him intentionally in some way, we will find you, and we will kill you, and we will make sure it looks like an accident."

Severus swallows thickly, "Understood?" one of them asks, he doesn't bother to focus on who.

"yes, I understand." he says firmly. The three boys look at each other and then back to him before they nod and lead him to sit on one of their beds. Severus looks up and gasps when he sees Harry standing in nothing but his underwear, his body covered in bruises and his back and legs are covered in welts from what look to be a belt. Severus can't help the small growl that bubbles up in his throat. He feels a hand pat his shoulder, but he doesn't look away from the scene.

There is a silencing bubble around Harry, Ron, and Hermione, so Severus can't hear what she was saying to the boy, but he can tell what potions she's giving him, bone mending, internal bleeding, pepper up, and a pain potion. Harry turns around so he is facing the others, when he doesn't react to their presence he wonders if Hermione or Ron made it so Harry couldn't see through the bubble. Severus' breath catches in his throat when he sees Harry's front side. There are bruises covering his face and arms, and Severus can very clearly see hand shaped bruises on the boy's neck. He can also count each of Harry's ribs poking out from under his skin. "Does this happen every year?" he asks quietly.

"'Fraid so," Neville sighs, "the bastard has let up the past couple of summers, but he seems to be worse than he's been in a while, at least from what I can tell. Harry always hid everything really well, no one noticed anything until Ron and Hermione found out the summer before fourth year. His uncle is the main culprit for the afflictions, although there are many times his cousin will play 'Harry hunting' or his aunt will try to hit him with her frying pan or slam his hand down on the burner for burning the food they make him make. He lived in the cupboard under the stairs until he was 11, they throw him back in occasionally if they're feeling really sadistic."

Severus was the head of Slytherin house, and Slytherin parents aren't always the most loving to their children, he has seen abuse on several students, he's never seen it this bad before. And to think, all this time he had been kicking Harry into the ground when the poor boy was already 6 feet under the starting point. Severus placed his face in his hands, and he realizes that he's crying. Maybe he does have a heart after all.

When Hermione and Ron finish fixing up Harry, including applying burn, bruise, and cut salve to wherever it was needed, Harry was exhausted. He put some of his baggy clothes on as pajamas and climbed into his bed, closing the curtains around him. Once Hermione had seen that Harry was comfortable in bed and asleep, she undid the silence bubble. She walked over and sat on the bed next to the one all the others were sitting on; Ron followed her only a moment later.

"He was bad," she said bluntly, looking between the 4 in front of her. She noticed that Neville, Dean, and Seamus all looked somber, she also noticed that Smith had been crying, and his fists were clenched painfully at his sides as he stared at the curtains where Harry had hidden behind.

"They locked him in his cupboard all summer,"

"ALL SUMMER?!" came the shouted response, Hermione shushed them, looking over at Harrys bed to see if there was any response. She had given him a pretty powerful sleep potion, so it didn't surprise her when she just heard Harrys quiet snores coming from that direction.

"He said that they had found out his godfather was dead, and with no threat to them if they hurt him, his uncle just kind of went ham." She said sadly. Severus saw red when Hermione said they had locked Harry up all summer 'no threat my ass' he thought, trying to keep his composure. Hermione finished debriefing them on Harry, and she said he should be feeling much better physically by the morning, although he would have that hangover feeling that came from taking too many potions at once. And she cautioned them to be gentle the first couple of weeks, like always. With that Hermione kissed Ron's cheek and left to go to her own dormitory. Severus got off whoever's bed he had been sitting on and he moves to sit on his own. He just stared at Harry's curtains for a while, until he hears all the others close their curtains and go to sleep. Severus dug around in his trunk, looking through his own personal potions supply to see if he had anything that could help. He found a potion that countered the potion hangover, and Severus was glad he kept a few random potions with him at all times. He also dug deeper and pulled out his secret, more experimental potions stash. He picked up the pink potion that just said "PTSD" on the label. He penned a small note and placed the two potions on top of the note on Harry's nightstand before climbing into bed and falling asleep. His first day as a Gryffindor had been more than a little challenging, he hoped that the rest of the term wouldn't be like that.

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

Harry woke up the next morning groggy, like he had a weight in his head and the world was spinning around him, he groaned. He knew this was going to happen, but it didn't make the feeling any less unpleasant. He reached for his nightstand to grab his glasses, but he was surprised to feel two potion vials there instead. He opened his eyes and actually looked at the nightstand, he plucked up his glasses and put them on, looking at the two potions and then reading the note under them.

_**Harry, **_

_** Here are two potions, the green one is to counteract the hungover feeling you are no doubt experiencing right now. It is made by a professional potions master, so it should work perfectly. The second one, the pink one, is has not been patented for sale, but I promise that it is safe and has been tested before. I promise I am not using you as a guinea pig. The pink one is for PTSD, to help the brain naturally heal from trauma. It does not work instantly, it takes about a month to fully take effect, but I wanted to give it to you, you deserve healing. **_

The note was unsigned, but Harry knew that the handwriting wasn't any of his friends, he knew it had to be from John. He looked over at the bed beside him, noticing that for once he wasn't the first one awake. Harry felt a small smile spread across his face, he downed the hangover potion and then after staring at the pink one for a while, he downed that one too. He set the two empty vials in the top drawer of John's nightstand, with a note that simply said: thank you.

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

It had been three weeks sense the start of term, and Severus found that the other Gryffindor's welcomed him into their house without any hesitation. He was surprised how easy it was for him get along with the golden trio + Luna and Ginny. They had quickly become friends, and Severus found himself enjoying going to class and hanging out with people far more than he ever had his first time around.

Severus watched Harry as the days went by, he noticed that the teen began to smile more, and that he joked and laughed and just seemed to enjoy the moment. Severus smiled at this; he was glad that the PTSD potion was working.

Severus was sitting in the common room reading a book when all of a sudden someone was sitting in his lap and hugging him tightly. The man, though he would deny it to his dying day, squeaked at the sudden feeling of somebody else on top of him. He looked down and found bushy brown hair and he relaxed a little, though he felt confused. He hugged her back "Hermione?" he asked, she shook her head and Severus felt his shirt dampening from tears. "Hermione are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

Hermione nodded this time "Harry told us about the potion you gave him and I… I've never seen him so happy in the entire time I've known him. He looks so free, so… so Harry. Thank you," she mumbled emotionally. Severus relaxed a little and just hugged her back for a while. He felt someone poke him in the shoulder, he looked up and paled when he saw Ron standing above them, his eyebrow raised and his hands on his hips. Severus raise his hands to show that he wasn't touching anywhere that he wasn't supposed to be.

"She landed on me, Ron, I swear!" he said, he felt Hermione lift her head up and laugh, climbing out of Severus' lap and went to kiss Ron, who kissed her back happily. Severus looked away, going back to the book on his lap.

Another two weeks went by, Severus had been a student again for over a month now. He had been called up to Dumbledore's office to discuss what he had found, but Severus found himself furious at the man in front of him. He knew now that all of the sixth year Gryffindor boys plus Hermione, Ginny, and Luna had tried to tell the headmaster about the abuse Harry was facing at home, but he had always dismissed them as being over dramatic, or by saying he would talk to the Dursleys.

"You. Old man. Have caused a lot of pain and suffering to people over the years," his speech started with a growl, and Dumbledore's eyes widened as his friend looked like he was ready to snap his neck. "You left that boy on the doorstep of a family who Minerva had already said was no good. But you didn't listen to her, the blood wards were too important- right?" Severus kept himself seated, but only because he knew if he stood, he would lunge at the headmaster.

"He lived there for 11 years before he came to Hogwarts, you never checked on him once. He didn't even know he was a wizard when Hagrid came and took him to Diagon Alley, he had thought his parents died in a car crash. He has been tossed around like a rag doll and a house elf in that house for the last 15 years. There are scars all over the boys back from wounds from a belt that had never been properly cleaned or healed. When he came up to the dorm on the first night back, Albus he was covered head to toe in bruises. I watched as for over an hour Hermione and Ron gave him potion after potion, mended his broken bones, and rubbed salve into his skin. I know for a fact that at least 8 people had tried to come to you about the abuse, including Harry himself, and you ignored them." his volume was raising, and finally his anger was too much for him to keep sitting. "You ignored all of them! You said they were being dramatic! Overexaggerating what was really going on! How would you have known? It's not like you ever cared enough about him to check up on him, or even so much as send someone else to check on him. you left an orphaned magical child at the doorstep of a magic-despising muggle family and it is _your fault_ that they tried to squash the magic out of him, and it is _your fault_ that when they couldn't do that, they beat him until he was too tired to even feel his magic in the first place." His teeth were clenched, and he enjoyed seeing how pale and horrified Dumbledore looked right now. Even though this was his mentor, was his friend, Severus couldn't help the disgust the man made him feel right now. "How dare you." Was the last thing he said before he turned and stormed out of the headmaster's office, not letting the old man get any words in.

3 more weeks went by, and Severus was pleased to see that the headmaster didn't call Harry into his office to discuss the abuse with him, he knew if he did it would probably push Harry over the edge, and it would risk Severus being found out.

Severus was also elated to see how well Harry was doing sense the PTSD potion had finally taken full affect, he was acting like a normal 16-year-old, a 16-year-old who didn't have the burdens of war on his shoulders for the last 5 years. Harry talked and laughed more openly, he ate healthy portions regularly, and he even had more theatrical re-imaginings of love stories with Ginny which always ended with at least two people on the floor laughing.

Despite knowing that their shows were entirely fictional, Severus still felt a weird feeling in his chest whenever he saw them pretending to be all lovey dovey. Or when he saw Neville walking with his arm around Harry's shoulder. Or when him and Hermione would cuddle as friends on the couch, her fingers carding through his hair. Or when-

Severus froze, realization dawning on him. The feeling he was feeling, it was jealousy. He was jealous of their friends. He was jealous of their friends whenever they would be affectionate with Harry. fuck. He fancied Harry Sodding Potter.

It was okay, he tried to tell himself, everybody knew Harry was gay, but nobody knew he just so happened to swing that way too. He made sure to never accidentally go up the girl's stairs, because he knew that the stairs would not change to a slide, no matter how much he begged them to. So as long as no one found out, he was safe. At least, that was his line of thinking.

Another 2 weeks, the first half of the semester was over, and they had just taken midterm's, something Severus had remembered taking, but hadn't remembered being so exhausted after taking them the first time around. He, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Luna, and Ginny were lounging in the common room, it was the Friday afternoon of their last midterms, and they had the next two days off to do literally anything they wanted. Severus was excited. He had gone to the bookstore during one of the Hogsmeade weekends, and he had found the newly published book by potions master Ogman. Severus couldn't help but pick it up and buy it immediately, and now he finally had time to read it.

Severus sunk down into the couch that he favored, the book in his hand and the entire world around him disappearing. This was a bad thing for him, though, as he missed the three girls in the corner of the room scheming.

The boys may be stupid, but the girls were not. Hermione had picked up weeks ago that John was showing signs of having a crush on Harry. Being the good academic that she was, she decided to run a little experiment, but she needed to recruit the help of Ginny and Luna. They were huddled in the corner talking about their battle plan, once they noticed he had settled in at least halfway through the first chapter of the book they attacked.

Ginny was the first to act, she walked up to Harry and draped herself over him. this caught John's attention immediately, bingo, she grinned. "Harry!" she whined, setting herself in his lap delicately and wrapping her arms around his neck. Harry looked up at her from his own book and he just smiled at her

"Hello Gin'," he hummed. She pouted,

"Harry my dear! I am lost without your love in my life!" she exclaimed, Harry couldn't help but laugh and indulge her in her theatrics.

"Oh, my lovely Ginerva, however will we survive yet another cold winter where I have to run off to war?" he asked, putting his book down and placing a hand over his heart, wrapping his other arm around her waist.

Severus watched from behind his book, he felt the jealousy in his chest light like a fire and he tried his best to keep it from spreading. They were only faking, and even if they weren't, what did he care? He was just their deaged professor, pretending to be someone he's not, living life as a 16-year-old once again with 16 year old hormones and emotions and a fucking crush on Harry Fucking Potter.

"Harrison, darling," she called him that when she wanted to be extra dramatic. "What is to happen if you survive this cold winter, and yet I do not? Will you forget about me? Will you take a new?"

"I shall never forget you, Ginerva Weasley, not as long as I am on this earth. But a new I must find, I ask you grant me permission to marry the one I truly love, if and only if you perish," it was easy for Harry to fake with her like this, especially sense she was gay and he was gay and she had a girlfriend. If this was someone else, say a certain transfer student… Harry shook his head to clear his mind, he couldn't think about that right now, he might actually get a boner with her in his lap and that would be way too awkward for Harry to even think of surviving the encounter.

"Harrison, your loyalty is truly a beauty to behold! For this I leave a parting gift" and then she leaned down and picked his lips. Harry wasn't surprised, they had kissed a couple times last year before Harry had realized he was gay- and when they both realized there was nothing between them, they laughed it off. She still pecked him from time to time, but usually during their dramatics or in a sisterly way.

Severus watched as Ginny leaned down and pecked Harry on the lips, suddenly everything in his mind went fuzzy 'it's not real, calm down, they're just acting,' he blushed as he had to push his jealousy aside.

Hermione watched John the entire time of Ginny's performance, waiting for the perfect time to strike. She saw the moment and she nodded at Luna across the room, who strode up to him and placed herself in is lap, "hello, John," she hummed. Similar to Ginny, Luna would find herself perched in the laps of really any of her friends. Mostly it was her girlfriend, but she had grown accustomed to also using Ron or Harry or as of late, John to be where she sat.

Severus started a little, not having noticed her come up to him. "Oh, hello Luna," he looked down and smiled at her, "How are you-" suddenly he felt the book in his hands be plucked out of them, and he saw Hermione holding it up in her hands, waving it around teasingly. "Hermione!" he called, moving Luna off of him to go get his book, but Hermione moved and set chase around the common room "Hermione give me that back this instant!" he called, trying to be menacing. He knew she was having fun, and he was letting her, but he really did want his book back.

They lapped the common room a few times, Severus was focused so intently on getting his book back that he didn't notice Hermione's change in direction and beelining for the girl's stairs. She ran up them quickly, Severus wasn't paying any attention, all he knew was that there were stairs, and his book was in the hands of a crazy witch up them. He took the stairs two at a time, not noticing the stares that followed him. "Hermione Jean Grang-" he was in the process of calling when he ran into the bushy haired teen, who was standing in the dorm room laughing and panting from the chase. Severus took his book back "Did you think I wouldn't catch you?" he asked, tucking his book under his arm.

Hermione had to hide her evil grin, instead she just laughed more "I didn't expect you to be able to follow me up the stairs," she lied.

"What do you-" Severus started to ask when suddenly he looked up at the dorm he was in. this wasn't the boys dorm with quidditch memorabilia everywhere. Well, it was there, but it wasn't everywhere. Instead there were posters of popstars and boy bands on the walls, there were clothes hanging everywhere around the room, and Severus even had the good nature to blush when he saw someone's bra hanging from their bedframe.

"Fuck me," he groaned, looking up at the ceiling. "You vile woman! You tricked me!" he tried to accuse, but Hermione just laughed again,

"No! I was using fair fighting tactics! I thought you would go tumbling down the minute you touched the steps!" she lied again. She shook her head and linked their arms together "Well, we know Harry isn't the only one who can come up here, now," she teased, giving him a large smile as he blushed harder.

Hermione pulled him down the stairs behind her, Severus moved his book to hide his face once he came back into view of his friends. He sat back down on the couch and opened the book, shoving his face in it- it was obvious he wasn't reading anymore.

"So uh, John mate, seems the girl's steps let you up." He heard Ron say, he could hear the lopsided grin in the others voice, Severus just groaned at him.

"How long were you going to keep that one from us, mate?" this time it was Seamus who spoke,

"forever and ever, not even on my death bed when I am old and alone was I planning on telling you lot," he heard his friends chuckle and he peaked his eyes out from behind his book to glare at Seamus, making sure to very carefully keep his eyes from looking at Harry.

"So, when'd you figure that one out, then?" Severus rolled his eyes at the Irishman in front of him.

"I don't know I suppose around this time 20 years ago," he snarked before he realized exactly what he had said. Severus hid his face and when nobody laughed, he shook his head "sorry, that was an awful joke, that one," that comment had everyone in the common room laughing, except for a black haired boy and a silver haired Ravenclaw, but they weren't laughing for different reasons.

It was almost time for dinner, everyone else made their way out of the portrait hole but Severus held back without them noticing, once they were gone, he climbed back up to his own room, "Great, just great," he mumbled to himself. He pulled his feet up onto his bed and leaned over with his arms wrapped around his legs, almost hugging himself in his position.

His book lay on the floor next to his schoolbag forgotten, he sighed and hid his face in his knees, he just kind of stayed like that for a while, not really thinking, not really not thinking- just kind of being in his teenage dread.

He jumped when he heard the door open, he turned and saw Harry who in turn gave him a crooked smile "Hey," he had a small box in his hand, he reached out and handed it to him. Severus looked at him confused, but he took it anyway. "not as good as miracle trauma potions," he joked "but I'm hoping it's something that helps," he then ducked back out of the room before Severus could say anything.

The Slytherin looked between the box in his hands and the closed door, he finally decided to open the box. On the inside of the lid a note was stuck in, _**"for the embarrassment" **_when Severus looked down, he smiled, it was a box of his favorite candies and chocolates. He picked one up and popped it in his mouth, and he wondered for not the first time that semester how he had gotten so lucky to be put on this project.

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

Another month went by rather well, the stairs incident was very rarely brought up, but Severus now had Ginny climbing into his lap and declaring her love for him, at first he didn't know what to do, but he quickly fell into a roll and she did it to him almost as much as she did it to Harry.

Somehow, Severus realized as he looked around the great hall where Hagrid was putting the Christmas trees up, it was Christmas time. He didn't know where all the time had gone, it felt like they had just started the term, and here it felt like it was already over. Well, half over anyway.

It was the week before Christmas, the second day of the break, when it happened, the inevitable, they found out. Or more specifically, Harry had found out.

Albus had cornered Severus in an abandoned part of the castle one Saturday afternoon, "Severus, my boy, don't you think that it's time to change back now?" Dumbledore had put off suggesting the idea for as long as he thought was healthy for Severus, but the headmaster worried that if Severus did not change back soon, he may never change back, his worries seemed to incline towards being correct.

"I don't want to, Albus!" Severus had said, running a hand through his hair "This may have been your idea, but this is my life you're playing with! I… These are my friends, now! Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the whole lot of them! They accepted me, just as who I was without any exceptions. If I change back, I lose all of that! And I'm back to being the bitter old dungeons bat who knows nothing but being alone!" he responded vehemently.

Albus looked at him with sad eyes "You cannot stay like this forever, my boy," his voice was soft, but it held a lot of weight.

Severus felt teenage defiance build up in his chest, "Watch me."

And with that, he turned on his heel and went back towards the Gryffindor common room, not noticing the second pair of eyes that followed him as he left.

He got back to the common room and felt relaxed by the atmosphere, the fire was crackling in the hearth and he went to sit down, but a hand caught his shoulder and whipped him around. He came face to face with Harry, who was looking more than a little upset. Severus' eyebrows furrowed in concern, "Harry, are you okay?" he asked, raising his hand to touch the boy's shoulder.

"No, I'm not bloody well okay, thanks for asking!" his voice was already raised, this wasn't a good sign.

"What's the matter? Is every-" he was caught off as Harry practically exploded at him.

"What's the matter?! What's the matter!" Severus could feel the others magic crackle around him, he unconsciously leaned away from Harry in fear. "When were you going to say something? Huh? At the end of the year? The summer? Maybe never? Were you just planning to disappear back to your normal self?"

Severus' eyes widened and he paled "Harry, I-"

"Shut up! Was this real? Was any of this ever actually real? Or were you just playing the part of the good spy who could?"

"Harry, please-"

"You lied to us, to everyone! We thought you were our friend, but you lied to us! To _me!_" the boy had hot angry tears running down his face, and Severus felt his heart shattering in his chest.

"Harry, I didn't-"

"Stop calling me that! Just stop! You hate me, remember! Just…" he was breathing heavily. "Get out. Get out! Just GET OUT!" he screamed.

Severus looked like he wanted to say something else, but he knew a dismissal when he heard one. He took a step back from Harry and looked up to see everybody in the common room had mostly cleared out, except for the friend group of sixth years. He looked at all of his friends who were staring at him sadly, had they known? Luna was the only one who for sure looked like she knew exactly what was going on. Severus met her eyes, and he couldn't help as the tears finally started to spill over.

"Alright," he whispered, lowering his head so his long hair shielded his face from everybody else's view as he left. He reached the portrait hole and heard "And… and don't come back!" shouted at him.

The words were like a blow to his heart, and he had to be careful not to stumble. He didn't turn, instead he just gave a curt nod and left. He headed for the room of requirements, he could be alone there, like he deserved, he thought. As he walked his tears came faster and faster, and he couldn't help as sobs crashed through him. How had he been so stupid? So careless! Now he was just the stupid greasy bat of the dungeons in a 16-year-old body and a broken heart. Merry Christmas, he guessed.

Severus left and Harry let out a cry of rage, pointing his wand at a couch cushion on the floor, he lit it on fire, not even noticing as somebody else put it out. "Harry," Harry turned at the soft lilting voice. Luna grabbed his arm and steered him to the couch "Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" her voice wasn't accusing, just asking.

Harry looked at her and he gesticulated towards the door "Luna! Do you know who he is? He's-!"

Luna cut him off, rubbing his back gently. "He's Severus Snape, I know. We all seemed to know except for you," she said gently

"How can you be so calm about all of this?! He lied to us! This whole time! Everything was… was all an act!" he tried not to shout into her face.

"Harry it stopped being an act once we got into the carriages in September. Yeah, he was probably working off of some weird orders from the headmaster that was supposed to ask more questions than it answered. But if the questions being asked are good questions, why fight it?" she soothed.

Harry felt all of his friends come and sit in the chairs around them, he looked up at Hermione, and she looked back in anguish. "How long have you known?"

"Sense about Halloween," she answered truthfully,

"and…! And you didn't say anything! He lied to us-!"

"Yes, he lied at first, but you cannot tell me that you didn't notice the man's true personality out in the open. He was open to ridicule, taunts, he had to listen to us talk behind his back about his own self and wasn't able to defend his honor. And yet, he was always kind to us. What about that potion he gave you, huh?"

Harry stammered "A-apart of Dumble-"

"Oh come on Harry," it was Ron who spoke this time, he looked sad and exasperated "even you can't be that daft to actually think that that man gave you the only vial of that potion he had without so much as a second thought that night because Dumbledore told him to. The old man probably didn't even know the thing existed!"

"And if it was all an act," Ginny cut in next "Why would he have tutored Neville in potions? Why would he have hexed Malfoy when he tried to humiliate you earlier this year? Why would he get us all our favorite tokens and treats whenever we had had a hard week? Do you really think him so incapable of kindness? Do you really think he did everything he did purely out of orders?"

Harry looked between all of his friends, and he started crying harder. He buried his face in his hands, "What have I done?" he whispered to himself.

"Hopefully not too much," he heard Hermione say with a sigh. The girls all wrapped themselves around Harry and guided him upstairs while the boys went around the castle, looking for any sign of Severus. After a few hours and even going so as far to look in his old potion's classroom, they couldn't find him. the sixth year Gryffindor's sighed and made their way back to their common room, it was getting late. They trudged up the stairs to their room and found Harry laying on his side, staring at Severus' empty bed. The other boys sighed and climbed into their own beds, "Good night Harry," Ron had said, but there was no answer. Ron just flipped off the light and they went to sleep.

That was 4 days ago, and it was Christmas eve. Harry had assumed that the extra bed and its trunk would disappear from their room, but they never did. He had assumed he would see adult Severus come striding through the great hall doors any day now, but he never did.

Him and his friends sat in the Gryffindor common room and celebrated the holidays together, they tried to be festive and have a good time, but there was a slight melancholy that fell over the room. They were missing someone, someone else was supposed to be there celebrating with them right now, but he was nowhere to be found.

They had looked for him, they looked for him the past few days, going so far as to use the marauders map but for some reason they couldn't even see his dot on the parchment. They had tried to send notes, but the owls all came back with the letters never removed, and the paper airplane notes would just return with their noses crumpled from running into walls. It seemed not even magic could find him right now. Harry had, in a last-ditch effort, tried to send a Patronus message to the man. His stag bounded out of his wand, and after getting the message he was supposed to deliver, it trotted out of the common room. It was only 10 minutes later when his stag came back, Harry looked at it expectantly, hoping to hear something, anything. But what he heard just made things worse. "He would not let me in, he is not letting anything in," was what it said before it disappeared into mist.

Now it was Christmas eve, and the group of friends all sat around the fire in their common room. Luna and Ginny were holding onto each other tightly, and Hermione had placed herself elegantly in Ron's lap. Neville had gone home for the holidays, but Dean and Seamus stayed, and the two of them were holding hands and talking quietly. Harry hugged his knees to his chest, just staring into the fire. At first, he had felt betrayed by Severus, like everything they had been through as friends was a lie, like it was all orchestrated by the headmaster. But after his friends spoke to him, and after he really processed all of what Severus had said to Dumbledore in the abandoned hallway, he felt like an idiot.

"_This may have been your idea, but this is my life you're playing with! I… These are my friends, now! Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the whole lot of them! they accepted me, just as who I was without any exceptions. If I change back, I lose all of that! And I'm back to being the bitter old dungeons bat who knows nothing but being alone!" _Severus had told the headmaster, Harry felt the hole in his chest building in size, and he just let it swallow him up.

The truth was, Harry liked John Smith (thinking about it, he maybe should have questioned how generic of a name that was), he fancied the boy, and he thought maybe that was why it hurt so much when he found out it was Severus. It felt like all the feelings Harry had for his friend were suddenly lies, and not only had Severus lied to him, but he lied to himself. He respected Severus as a professor, as a man, as a spy and a person, but finding out that the man that hated you with every fiber of their being for so long is suddenly one of your best mates, it's a little upsetting.

His friends were right though, he would have been an idiot to not notice even a little bit how much Severus' personality stayed the same. He was still sarcastic and witty, and even mean in his comments when he was speaking to or about people that he wasn't particularly fond of. He always had a potions book around to read, and he spoke about advanced potion concept like they were things you learned as a child.

Harry didn't realize he had let out a sigh, he also didn't notice the tear running down his face until he felt someone wipe it away for him. He looked up and saw Hermione had moved from her place in Ron's lap to sit Indian style in front of Harry. Harry gave her a deep look, and he could see the pity she felt for him written in her eyes. "You liked him, were starting to love him, maybe you already did love him," it was posed like a question, but Harry knew it was a statement, he nodded numbly. "Y'know the whole running up the stairs with his book thing that happened a month or so ago?" Harry nodded, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as to where she was going with this.

Hermione just gave him a small sad smile. "I thought he had a crush on you, so I did my experiment to see if he swung that way, and when I found out he did I noticed how he looked at you, like you were the stars and galaxies in his eyes. I know you feel hurt, that he lied to you. But he didn't have to stick around here if he didn't want to. Dumbledore had wanted him to change back as soon as the headmaster saw you were feeling better, but he didn't." she heard Harry start to ask how she knew the last bit, she cut him off to answer, "I went to Dumbledore's office, to see if he knew where Severus was. He doesn't, he assumed he was with us and that he was just ignoring Dumbledore by skipping meals. I know this probably isn't what you want to hear right now, especially not with all the couples around and all the happiness and excitement that Christmas is supposed to bring but for some reason it isn't doing it for you. I felt like it was important for you to hear it, even if it's not what you want to hear."

Harry lowered his eyes from her face to the floor, the tears kept coming and he decided to just let them run their course. Hermione kissed his temple before standing up, pulling Ginny and Luna up the stairs to the girl's dorm with her. Ron and Seamus practically hauled Harry off of the floor, carrying him upstairs. He came of his own free will, but they didn't think he would have moved on his own if they hadn't carried him up. Harry went and sat in his bed, looking around at all the other boys as they levitated down their Christmas gifts for everyone under the tree in the common room. Harry did the same, but he paused, an idea popping into his head. He picked up a piece parchment and wrote a quick note, before clasping it between his palms and muttering something as he closed his eyes and focused real hard on his magic. The other boys for a moment thought he was praying, which confused them, but then they felt Harry's magic shift around the room, and they knew it was more than that. They watched as Harry opened his palms and the piece of parchment was gone, the boy couldn't help the small grin that slipped onto his face as he crawled into bed. He hoped this worked.

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

Ever sense Harry had screamed at him, told him to get out and not come back, Severus had done well to do as he was told. He had gone to the room of requirement, he walked in after thinking of him needing a bedroom to stay in. He summoned some pajamas from his trunk, he stayed in them during the entire duration of his stay in the room, hitting them with cleaning charms every morning. He knew he should probably leave, change back, forget everything that happened over the last few months, but it felt wrong to do that. Like not only was he betraying his friends, but himself as well. Severus spent most of the next few days lying in bed and staring at the empty space in front of him. He purposefully put up magical barriers on the outside of the rooms, nothing could get through to him.

He had heard owls scratching at the door, the thunks of little paper airplanes hitting it, trying to find some way in even if through the keyhole, and at one point he even saw the glow of a Patronus under the crack of the door, but he ignored them all. He didn't want to see or read what nasty things they had to say to him. The pit in his stomach and the hole in his heart just grew as the days went on. It was the night of Christmas eve and Severus felt like he was disintegrating from the inside out. He had so many emotions that it hurt to exist. He stared at the stone wall in front of him and wished that he could be spending Christmas with his friends, if, he thought, they were even still his friends. That thought stung, hurt worse than the others, and he cried for a while, curled up into himself on the bed.

Severus was just about to fall asleep when he heard a soft pop enter the room at 12:01 on Christmas morning, he looked up at the floating piece of parchment in confusion. He had warded against anything getting in! But then he checked the time and realized the day, Christmas was an especially magical time of the year, and if magic wanted you to get something, by golly you were going to get it.

Severus reached out and took the sheet of parchment, as he read his crying got worse.

"_**come to the common room Christmas morning, please?" **_was all it read in Harry's chicken scratch handwriting. Severus closed his eyes and curled up into himself, trying to decide if he should go. On one hand it could just be a way for the others to get their revenge and take him down another notch. But Severus didn't think that they were that cruel as to do it on Christmas. He sighed and fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning Severus woke up just before sunrise, like he always did. He stared at the wall for a moment before thinking about the note. Why not, he thought, can't get much worse than it already was, he supposed.

Severus felt a chill breeze pass through the air, he shivered, putting on a bathrobe over his pajamas and slippers on his feet. He hugged himself as he walked from the seventh floor to the Gryffindor tower. What if this was a mistake? He paused and thought about turning back but he shook his head, whatever was waiting for him in that common room, he would face it.

He said the password to the fat lady's portrait, and he was actually surprised when she beamed at him, and if Severus was crazy, he thought she looked relieved when she saw him.

"Severus! Merry Christmas!" she smiled before opening and letting him crawl through the portrait hole. He took a deep breath and stepped into the common room, the cozy environment was both relaxing him and giving him anxiety. He sat in an armchair facing the fire, having been the first to be there- he always seemed to be early to things. He leaned his head on the back of the chair, and he was startled when he heard a small pop and a mug of hot chocolate coffee with peppermint and whipped cream appeared on the table to the side of the chair. He took it with a smile, and thanked the silence in the room, not knowing if it was an elf, the castle, or the Christmas magic that did it. But whatever it was he wanted to show his thanks. Wow, he was definitely turning into a Gryffindor.

He sipped on his coffee for a few minutes before he could hear footsteps coming down one of the stairwells. He didn't want to look up to see which side it was coming from, so he kept his eyes trained on the floor. He heard a loud gasp and then the next thing he knew his arms were filled with someone. He startled but somehow managed to place the coffee on the side table before it spilt. He looked down with a glint of hope that maybe it was Harry, but it was Hermione. He smiled, at least one of them didn't hate him. He hugged her back, and they were silent for a long while.

He heard two more sets of footsteps make their way down the stairs, he looked up and saw Luna and Ginny, Luna was wide awake, but Ginny looked like she literally opened her eyes and rolled out of bed, which definitely was a possibility. He saw Luna scan the room, and when her eyes landed on him, she smiled "good morning, Severus" she said softly. Ginny snapped her eyes up at that.

"good morning, Luna," he gave her a shy smile back. Suddenly he had all three of the girls in his lap, hugging him. Severus felt his heart warm; he just hoped the men had the same forgiving spirits they did.

"where have you been you prat? We've been so worried!" Ginny finally spoke, sitting up to smack Severus in his chest.

"I was in the room of requirements," he said honestly, "I was told not to come back, so I felt it smart to stay away,"

Ginny's eyes softened and she shook her head,

"Harry is an idiot, don't worry." she said, as if that was supposed to make him feel better. He chuckled almost brokenly at the comment.

"right, well, while one of you on me doesn't crush my legs, three of you on top of me at once seems to be my limit," he joked. The girls laughed and all climbed off of him. Seamus and Dean came down next, and when they saw Severus, they looked at each other and back at him and then they grinned, before immediately running back upstairs. Severus furrowed his brows,

"what was that all about?" he asked the girls, but they just smiled at him.

Severus heard some commotion from the boys upstairs, he looked up and had to clap his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing when he saw Ron coming down the stairs with Harry, still mostly asleep, draped over his shoulder like he was a towel or something. Harry was wearing his glasses crookedly, and he wondered if one of the guys shoved them onto his face. "Ron…" the smaller teen groaned, hitting Ron's back with his fists, "I know it's Christmas, but can't we sleep for just a bit longer?" he whined.

"No," Ron said, a grin flashing at Severus, "The whole crew's come together to get you the best present, you have to see it right now." Harry just made another noise and kicked his legs to be put down "Unless it's Viktor Krum with a bow on his head, I don't care!" Ron just smirked "I'll do you one better, mate," he said finally stopping in front of Severus. Ron looked down at him and nodded, Severus nodded back, and then Ron unceremoniously dropped Harry into Severus' lap, before going to sit next to his girlfriend.

Severus found himself unconsciously wrapping his arms around the boy, waiting with bated breath to see what was about to happen. He watched Harry open his eyes to look up at him, he blinked a few times and once the others face came into focus, he smiled and hugged his old professor tightly, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face in his neck.

"I'm sorry, Sev'rus" he mumbled, Severus felt oddly warmed when he heard Harry use his given name, instead of the fake one he'd been going by for months now.

He stroked up and down Harry's spine in a comforting way, "It's okay, Harry, I should be the one apologizing to you," he felt Harry shake his head,

"Shouldn't…" Harry started, trying to find the words "Shouldn't have been so stupid, so harsh, should have thought first,"

"Gryffindor's don't seem to do that too much, do they?" Severus teased, continuing to stroke his back to let him know he wasn't upset or mad in any way.

He earned a few chuckles from their friends at the comment, Severus smiled and gently moved Harry out of his neck, "come on," he said, pushing at him lightly to get down "you're not supposed to sit in chairs on Christmas morning, it's a sin, to the floor it is."

Harry smiled and climbed off of him, Severus moved from his chair to the semi-circle the others had formed around the Christmas tree, and he noticed that Harry squeezed himself between Severus and Ron, Ron shook his head and moved over to make more room for his friend. Severus felt odd, redoing his sixth year Christmas. If he was honest, he hadn't really celebrated Christmas at all sense he left Hogwarts originally. He gave Albus a bottle of fine scotch every Christmas (except this year, because technically he was too young to buy alcohol), but other than that he didn't give, and he certainly didn't receive, any gifts.

He had remedied the first half of that situation though, and made sure to get everyone something, and even when he thought he wouldn't get to see them open them, or when he thought they would just toss the gifts, he still made sure they were all under the tree by today.

It was funny to see, how everybody had used different wrapping paper, and every person got one of each except for the ones they wrapped with, obviously. It was nice to see that nobody got left out here, in Slytherin you either got something or you didn't, that was that. Everybody dived towards the tree to try to find their things, Severus stayed in place though. Despite becoming friends with the others, he still didn't think he was going to be included, especially not after Harry had found out who he was. Hermione must have seen this, because she moved her wand in a circle to round up all of the presents that had "Severus" on them and levitated them to him and onto the floor in front of him. Severus' eyes widened as he saw the little pile in front of him, he almost started crying with how happy he was.

Once all the presents had been passed out, Ginny, much more awake and excited now, spoke "how do we want to do this? Do we want to go one present at a time around the circle? Do we want one person to open them all at once and then move on?"

"what if we opened each of our gifts with the same wrapping at the same time? Like at the same time we all open the plaid wrapping to see what everybody received from that person?" Severus suggested quietly, not really expecting them to a) hear him, or b) take his suggestion. But they did both, Seamus complimented his thinking and shook his hand as if he was receiving a noble prize. Severus laughed quietly before turning back to the gifts.

They spent the next hour opening presents, Severus feeling particularly touched by the Weasley sweater that Ron had gotten molly to knit for him (the redhead made sure to get it in black and gray, knowing Severus' distaste for bright colors), and the framed picture Harry gave him- it had Severus, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Harry, and Ginny all laughing and hanging out by the lake. The group turns to look at the viewer as if just noticing them, and they wave.

Severus was anxious when everyone opened the gifts that he gave them, but he was especially nervous about if Harry would like his gift or not. There were two things inside the box, the first thing was a necklace. It had a white gold chain and a delicate emerald pendant sitting in the middle of it. Harry looked up at Severus and smiled, and Severus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "will you put it on me, please?" Harry asked softly,

"of course," Severus responded, he took the necklace from Harry and clasped it behind his neck. He hadn't meant to, but his fingers brushed the back of Harry's neck and it made the smaller boy shiver. Severus pulled his hand away, not quick enough to be suspicious, but quick enough that he wasn't still lingering. He could feel eyes on him, and he glanced over to see Hermione smirking at him, he moved and rubbed his face, suppressing a groan.

Finally, Harry noticed the second thing in the box, it was a letter, or well, letters. The first letter was from Severus, apologizing for how he had treated Harry when he was younger, Severus owned up to his mistakes of treating him like garbage and nothing more than a James clone, and that he was wrong in never giving him a chance until Dumbledore asked him to do the stupid mission he was… technically still on? The letter was penned the night Harry told him to leave, and Severus also apologized for lying, and for upsetting him, and it said that if he never wanted to see him again, he understood completely. The second letter was from Dumbledore, stating that Harry would no longer ever have to go back to the Dursleys, ever, for any reason at all. He said something about the war being over so there was no more need for the blood wards, although Harry stopped reading after he read that he would never have to ever be in the presence of the Dursleys ever again.

Harry started to cry, and he cried hard. "Harry?" Severus asked worriedly "Harry are you okay?" Harry just shook his head and kept crying; the others were staring at them. Severus stood and pulled Harry up off the floor with him, "Come on, let's go upstairs and get some space, yeah?" his voice was gentle, he rubbed the sides of Harry's arms for any semblance of comfort. When Severus saw Harry nod his head, Severus lead him up to their dorm. He helped him get over to his bed and Harry sat down on it heavily, still sobbing.

Severus kneeled down in front of him "Hey, hey now," he whispered, placing one hand on Harry's knee and the other moved to wipe the tears off of his face "Tell me what's wrong, did I upset you?"

Harry shook his head, his hair falling into his eyes. "I… I never," Harry choked out, trying to take a few breaths to steady his voice "never have to go back there again, ever, I never have to see them again," he managed to get out before he sobbed harder. He was so relieved; a weight he didn't know he had been carrying was lifted off his shoulders. He felt like he had been suffocating and now he was finally allowed to breathe, and he didn't know what to do or even how to do it anymore.

Severus finally understood what Harry meant, he got up from his kneeling position and he sat next to his friend on the bed, then he pulled Harry into his arms and just held him close. He rocked them back and forth and whispered reassuring words in his ear, hoping he was a calming presence.

After a while, Harry's crying slowed down, almost to a halt, Severus can feel Harry relaxing in his arms and he sighs in relief. "Tired," Harry mumbled from where his head was rested on Severus' chest. "Go to sleep, then," Severus replied softly, he laid Harry down on the bed and stood up to leave, but Harry grabbed his wrist, keeping him in place.

Severus looked down, about to ask if everything was okay "Stay with me?" he heard Harry plead "please?" he sounded almost desperate. Severus looked down at where he was holding onto his wrist, and then he looked back at Harry. How could he say no to that?

He took off his slippers and robe and threw them on his own bed, before he climbed in next to Harry on his. The beds were small, but they were just barely big enough to hold the two of them. Harry tucked his head under Severus' chin, and the ex-potions master wrapped his arms around Harry, pulling him close to him protectively. Severus tried not to think about how well their bodies fit together, tried not to think about how it felt like his heart was going to explode because he was so close yet so far.

He moved and started drawing small circles on the boys back with his finger, and it only took a few minutes for his companion to fall into an exhausted sleep. Severus followed a short while later.

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

Severus stirred and woke when he felt the person in his arms begin to squirm, he looked down when he realized Harry was having a nightmare, he frowned, it had been a while sense he'd had one. He heard Harry whimper and Severus pulled him closer, cradling him to his chest "shhh Harry, it's okay, it's just a bad dream, I promise," he spoke softly, hoping that he was getting through to Harry somehow. Severus continued to softly call his name and rock him back and forth.

Harry finally started to wake, and when he blinked up into Severus' eyes, he felt like he was dreaming. "Sev'rus?" his speech was slurred from sleep, he looked so happy yet so confused.

Severus smiled "Yes, Harry?" he hummed.

"Love you," he mumbled. Severus' breath hitches and he moves back a little,

"Wh-what?" he stammered. Harry wakes up a bit more, he blinked his eyes and they clear.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, beginning to pull away "I shouldn't have… I should have known you wouldn't…"

Thinking quick Severus wrapped his arms more firmly around Harry's waist. "S-say it again," he said softly.

"I- what?" Harry looked so confused,

"Say it again, please" he whispered, pleading.

"I… I love you" Harry whispered back, looking into the other boys' eyes to show his truth through them.

"I love you too," Severus respondeed before closing the distance between them and kissing him slowly.  
Harry kissed him back, his arms wrapped around Severus' neck and Severus felt like everything was perfect.

He pulled away with a smile, and he enjoyed seeing the happy and dazed look on Harry's face. He took Harry's hand in his and laced their fingers together "Is this where I get to call you my boyfriend?" Severus asked with a crooked smile.

Harry laughs softly and brings the back of Severus' hand up to his lips for him to kiss it. "Yes, I believe it is," he then moves and kisses Severus again. They hear the door to the dorm open and they jump apart, turning to see who just walked in, they looked up to see Ginny standing there. Harry gives her a small wave and she smirks. She turns out the door and they can hear her yell,

"finally!" and then "they're finally together!" along with cheering from the others in the common room. Severus laughs and pulls Harry closer, kissing his temple.

-HHLL HHLL HHLL-

The rest of the day went by fast; Harry and Severus went back downstairs holding hands, and they got a round of applause from their friends. Then the rest of the day everyone just spent time together, sitting on the floor by the fire eating way too much candy and telling stories. At dinner time they all walked together down to the great hall, each couple hand in hand. They walked into the hall and smiled at the feast laid out on the table in front of them. Severus let go of Harry's hand just before they entered, when they walked in Dumbledore looked up and his eyes twinkled when he saw Severus "Ah! John, my boy!" he still playing into the whole secret identity thing. Severus couldn't help but roll his eyes as he stepped up to the headmaster. "It is good to see you! I was afraid you had been hiding form me, hm?"

Severus looked back at his friends who all gave him thumbs up, "Albus, I am not changing back," he said firmly. He watched as Albus' face dropped. "but- but-" the headmaster stumbled.

"But nothing, headmaster. I have spent the last 20 years of my life following the orders of crazy dark lords and old men. I have a chance to redo that, and you want me to change back? After I've made friends and started enjoying my life again? No. I am happy as I am. I can still make potions for poppy or for something you need, and if you want to hire me back after I graduate next spring- be my guest. But I'm staying here as I am." He said firmly. He looked back at his group and they all smiled, he smiled back and walked away from Dumbledore before he could say anything.

"You did great, I'm proud of you," Harry said as Severus sat, and Severus couldn't help but laugh and kiss his temple, collecting food on his plate for his meal.

"I love you," he says softly to Harry, and Harry reaches up to kiss him.

For the first time in a long time, all was well.


End file.
